


I Will, Tonight

by orphan_account



Series: Lullabye [13]
Category: Bandom, Fall Out Boy
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Gen, Kidfic, M/M, ageshifting, not ageplay, omce again i wrote a fic where patrick turns into an actual toddler what can i say, sighs in shame, suspended disbelief
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-21
Updated: 2016-01-21
Packaged: 2018-05-15 09:31:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5780677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>PROMPT: Patrick ends up small right before a show and he and Pete have to explain it to the crowd.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Will, Tonight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lakeeffectkid](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lakeeffectkid/gifts).



> Panics new album: *comes out*  
> me: *turns the brobecks song I'm listening to up* ****my jokes always sound so bitter Im literally just kidding. Anyway have this! Thanks for all the prompts and support etc. you're all super lovely and I love you and i'm sorry if im slow writing stuff, I've got a little list of prompts to write and there's like five or six on there right now, so if it takes me ages to get to you, don't take it personally ;) hope everyone has a good Friday!!

"Patrick, are you _sure_ you're okay?"  
Patrick nodded irritably, slapping Pete's hands away from his shoulders.   
"I'm _fine_."  
"Good, because we have a show today," Pete reminded gently. "First one back since I got my cast off."  
Patrick screwed his eyes shut like he was in great pain, and nodded again.   
"Are you sure you're not-"  
" _No_. It's tomorrow. I'm _fine_."

***

Patrick continued like this, seeming worse and worse all day. Pete made him sit down and try and relax, bringing him hot drinks periodically, and coffee to stay awake because he had no chance if he fell asleep. By the time they piled into the van to get to the show, a local one-off, Patrick was quivering lightly. Andy, Joe, and Pete shared worried looks throughout the journey, Pete stroking Patrick's hair lightly. It'd be fine though, he'd been like this before and gotten through plenty of shows. Maybe not their best, but not ones that triggered headlines calling Patrick a manchild freak, or whatever, because Pete already claimed the title of manchild freak and couldn't have Patrick infringing on that.

***

Patrick was shaking like Pete hadn't seen since he'd tried to hold off for days out of nerves, the first time he'd gone to his mom's with Pete.

They'd been back the previous week, neglecting to visit earlier because of touring. They'd visited when Patrick was big, to tell her about their engagement - she cried, for a very long time, and offered Pete alarming amounts of money for the wedding and a house together - with just a phone call to his dad, who was out of state, but with promises to visit soon.

Pete's cast was finally off, and they could play shows again. They could've all along if Patrick would stop being so stubborn and get a stand-in bassist, but he claimed that Pete, as the frontman, was irreplaceable.   
"I'm fine," He muttered, dripping with sweat, "I'm _fine_." He flinched when a tech passed him his guitar, slinging it on roughly. But when he peeked through a crack in the side-stage door, seeing the size of the crowd, he blanched. Pete caught a glimpse of huge, terrified eyes and a completely white face before Patrick was bolting past Pete and the poor, startled roadie.

With an apology to the guy, Pete turned and sprinted after him. He found him just outside, already small, leaning on the door and panting. Startled, he looked up at Pete with a deer-in-the-headlights expression and red rings around his eyes. Seeing Pete, he went weak and slid down the door to sit on the floor.

Pete collapsed beside him, quickly pulling him in close. He wasn't crying yet, but it was a delicate situation. Waiting for him to speak first, Pete wordlessly stroked his hair, setting a breathing pattern for Patrick to follow.   
"Oh dear," Patrick sighed softly.   
Pete's body shook a little as he laughed, clutching Patrick tighter.   
"S'alright, Ricky, it's not the end of the world."  
"Yeah, but. I ruined the show. All these people came out, it's too late to cancel now, and I- _ughhh_ ," He tugged ineffectually at his own hair with a frustrated moan. Quickly pulling Patrick's hands away, Pete pointed out, "It wasn't going to be a great show anyway, Tricky, with you like that. At least you're okay now. I was pretty worried about you. It's cool, though, we'll do something. Audience participation or whatever, we can get fans up to sing, say you had a family emergency."

The abused tech from earlier appeared around the door, doing a double take at Pete and the small child that had suddenly appeared, with no Patrick in sight. From months of practice, Pete's brain was now quick with excuses. "Ugh, sorry, dude... We're a little fucked. I mean, um, in trouble. Something urgent came up and Patrick had to go, and he left his cousin for us to take care of. We were thinking the rest of us could just play, and we could get people up from the crowd to sing?"

The guy looked nervous. "It's not my call, I'm literally just an intern. I've worked here two weeks. Um, j-just... well, you guys were meant to be on like fifteen minutes ago, so you don't really have time to ask anyone. I don't- I mean, I guess just, yeah."

Pete climbed to his feet, forcing Patrick to stand with him, realising that all the people he trusted to look after Patrick would either be miles away, in the band, or busy during the show. It was too short notice, and they were already late so, swallowing his guilt, he picked Patrick up and handed him to the guy. "I'd take him over, but it sounds like I need to go on. Just take him side-stage for me, if you could? He likes watching. Just find him a seat and he'll look after himself," and to Patrick, "You hear that? You go with the nice guy to the watching area and sit down, okay, and don't move from your chair until I come get you, or unless there's an emergency. If you need to use the bathroom, ask him to take you now. Be good for me?"

Patrick nodded earnestly, sad eyes fixed on Pete like he was obviously still holding himself responsible for the currently ruined show.

  
***

"So, how you guys doing tonight?"  
Joe took advantage of the screaming and whooping to mouth at Pete, " _Where's Patrick_?" to which Pete grimaced and pointed with his eyes to Patrick sitting cross legged in the area reserved for VIPs like band members' families, and the thought of him being there made Pete smile. He didn't wear the mood ring frequently in public, at Patrick's request, so as not to arouse suspicion, but he always kept it somewhere on his person, thumbing it when he felt nervous.

"So, I'm going to have to let you guys down a little, but Patrick had to disappear literally, like, ten minutes ago, um, something came up..."  
There was a loud ' _awww_ ' and Pete glanced briefly at Patrick like _'see, they love you_!'   
"But, I figured some of you guys might know a couple of the songs, soooo we can just get a few volunteers, right?"

Andy crashed helpfully on the drums for effect, and the crowd whooped again, a few people at the front already jostling and calling _'me, me_!'   
"Yeah, I mean, you guys, Patrick, what's the difference!" Pete teased, resisting the urge to retaliate at Patrick, who was sticking his tongue out.

"Okay, so this first song's called Grand Theft Autumn, anybody know it?"

***

It had _worked_ , strangely, the crowd had been buzzed and this was probably a better show than it would've been if Patrick had held on and suffered through it.  
A guy and his girlfriend were in Patrick's place currently, and she'd even been able to play Patrick's rhythm guitar part, with a spare guitar that the still befuddled tech guy, who seemed to be the only one available for some reason, had found for her.

Pete turned his head to Patrick questioningly;  _are you okay?_ He received a small nod and a tight smile, but his eyes lingered on the two people stood where he usually did, and Pete wondered if he'd taken what Pete said earlier to heart.

He waited until the song ended, thanking the blushing pair as they dissolved back into the crowd, and as he announced the next song, he ignored the clamouring audience and looked at Patrick's face. When Pete caught his eye, he looked unbearably hopeful, which helped eliminate Pete's guilt at not giving this chance to another fan.

He was a terrible actor so his, "Hey, how about you over there, little buddy?" Sounded so stilted he cringed, but people were too busy just trying to make out what he was saying in the noisy venue to care.   
Patrick leapt from his seat and dashed forward, helped onto the stage by a security guy. His hesitant appearance under the spotlight was met with awe and cooing, and he relaxed a little and offered a toothy grin.

Pete put a hand on his back, trying not to seem familiar, while a girl who wasn't the probably traumatised tech from earlier rushed forward and lowered the microphone stand.   
"Go on, introduce yourself," he murmured encouragingly.  
Patrick stepped haltingly forward, taking the microphone in one hand, and coughed, while Pete smirked at the crowd's collective heart-eyes.

"Hey, I'm, um," He turned to look up at Pete, "I'm Jack... and I really like Pe- Fall Out Boy, and now I'm going to s-sing a song called... Saturday."  
Joe launched into the opening riff before he had a chance to say anything else, not that he was going to, and forced him to start singing. Pete tried to keep the naked adoration off his face, but he really was just a painfully awful actor. It did make him smile when there were a couple of whoops of ' _we love you, Jack_ ' and Patrick smiled and pressed a little closer into the microphone.

He sang in a little kid's voice, bright and high pitched and unrecognisable as his own, unless, like Pete, you knew and could see the subtle mannerisms that were his and the way he stumbled over the same word and the way he beamed and gained a new lease of life, jumping and swaying a little, when he sang ' _me and Pete_ '. It wasn't the kind of voice made to sing Fall Out Boy, but it would be.

He finished the song, and Pete could tell he was trying as hard as Pete was not to turn and look back at him every two seconds, but they shared at least three smiles during the song. When he finished, to loud cheering, and took a little bow, to even louder cheering, Pete screamed, "Give it up for Jack!"

Patrick smiled and waved, and right before he left to be helped back off the stage, he turned and buried his face into Pete's hip, so Pete could feel Patrick's smile in his leg. The crowd, taking it for one of the many fan-hugs Pete had given out that night, awwed loudly, missing the emotion on Pete's face from the distance. Feigning awkward, Pete petted his hair and handed him back to the security guy who helped him back down.

"Well, guys, this has been pretty fun, but unfortunately that was our last song, so we gotta get home. I need to call my mom, 'cause true punks _always_ call their moms. But you guys should come and check us out again sometime, when we actually have a singer, Patrick, he's pretty awesome."

  
There was a cry of ' _I_ _love you, Pete_ ' as the lights dimmed, and Patrick's smirking face was the last thing Pete caught before he couldn't really see anymore.

  
***

  
"Patrick! Holy s- cow, that was so freaking _awesome_ ," Pete whooped, collecting Patrick from his chair and swinging him into the air. There were a few people around, still, but Pete was too adrenaline high to bother with pseudonyms as he kissed Patrick's cheek delightedly. As promised, Patrick had stayed cross legged in his seat until Pete could get away from all the people coming up to congratulate him for an amazing recovery of the show, and asking if Patrick was okay.

Pete sighed happily. "That rocked. We should totally do that again sometime. You gonna be big in time for the show tomorrow?"  
"Petey, I'm _never_ doing that again," Patrick grimaced. "I had fun but I was so nervous and it was reallyreally scary, _and_ someone will figure out if I keep doing that."

Pete kissed his cheek again. "I guess so. Ugh, you're such an angel. C'mon, we better get somewhere we can call your mom, and then I promised everyone I'd call mine, so I should do that too."

Patrick wrinkled his nose in distaste, and Pete had to remind him who was paying for their wedding. 


End file.
